Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/11

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Subject: RE: [Leica] Something for everyone
From: Austin Franklin <austin@darkroom.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2000 23:24:12 -0500

There is something that I don't understand. If you figure out the entire
surface area of a lens or lens and camera, the front element is a small
percentage of the whole. If you drop your camera or just your lens, what's
the chances of it "just" hitting the front element glass?

[Austin] The filter has virtually nothing to do with protecting your lense 
from the camera being dropped...unless it's a rubber filter.  So, 
obviously, that's not what anyone is talking about when referring to the 
filter protecting the front element.  The lense is also mostly pointing in 
the direction the camera is traveling, making the front element more 
susceptible to damage.

Do you UV folks wear safety glasses 100% of the time?...Against what... I'm
at a loss.

[Austin] Since I DO wear glasses, and they are safety glass, I guess I do. 
 Except when I'm sleeping...er, and showering...  I can see where I am 
going with my eyes, and USUALLY avoid running into things.  I am not always 
paying attention to what the front of the camera is doing.  Sometimes it 
has a mind of its own.

So this rock hard piece of glass,
recessed from the front of the lens, is going to be hurt by... what??? Oh
yes, you are going to whacked it repeatedly against the corner of a set of
concrete steps.

[Austin] A bit dramatic there, aren't we?  Suppose I just find it a LOT 
easier to clean the front of a flat filter, than a recessed piece of $2000 
glass when I am in the field.  Given that I use the camera a LOT, and 
mostly outdoors, and I really like my glass clean....it does make it a hell 
of a lot easier...

Gee, ease of cleaning (saves time too, no hunting for that special lense 
cleaning cloth, any old shirt will do!), protecting that 'ever so 
susceptible to damage' forward facing, doesn't have its own eyes front 
lense element, can't be lost like a lense cap, and even spiffy looking!  A 
bargain at any price!

Help me, Rhonda, help, help me Rhonda...

[Austin] Dr. Laura, perhaps, but not Rhonda...


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